


The Firebender Hunters

by Red_Tigress



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Action, Angst, Canon Compliant, Gen, Hurt Zuko (Avatar), Hurt/Comfort, Look I have like one thing i write about okay?, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Takes place before they go fight Ozai, Zuko (Avatar) Needs a Hug, Zuko is a sad boy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:14:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24635899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Red_Tigress/pseuds/Red_Tigress
Summary: Zuko goes missing, and the Gaang looks for him and talks about some Firebending culture.
Relationships: Aang & Zuko (Avatar), Katara & Zuko (Avatar), The Gaang & Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 43
Kudos: 1644
Collections: A:tla, Burnt Marshmallow





	The Firebender Hunters

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks very much Meskeet for betaing this mess and for encouraging me. We're living in the Avatar Renaissance guys, I'm so thrilled. Anyway, you can find me reblogging fandom stuff incessantly on Tumblr, redtigress dot tumblr dot com. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy.

“Why would a firebender come _here_?”

Zuko’s shoulders tense, the skin along his neck and arms starting to crawl uncomfortably as he freezes in place. The voices are coming from behind him.

“I hear it’s some sleeper cell type thing, they’re trying to infiltrate the Earth Kingdom! Pretend they’re our friends. I heard about it from Liu, down the street.”

“You idiot, Liu thinks the Earth is flat!”

Zuko blinks. The voices are not directed at him.

He pays for the noodles and eggs he’s buying for the group and walks quickly back up the street towards the edge of town, only sparing a passing glance at the two arguing as he does. He pulls his hat down closer over his face, and so he doesn’t see out his left eye when someone suddenly rounds a corner and right into him.

“S-sorry!” he shouts, shifting his weight to protect the eggs and making a sort of awkward hop to keep his balance. He chances a glance up - there’s a huge man standing over him, eyeing him warily. Zuko tries to give what he thinks of as a disarming smile but, if Sokka’s color commentary is right, probably comes across as more of a weak grimace. “Didn’t, ah, didn’t see you there. Apologies.”

He starts to go on his way. Generally, his experience in the Earth Kingdom has been if you offer proper humiliation for what can be viewed as an innocent mistake, most people are prone to let it go. Zuko feels the skin crawl on his neck again as the man continues to eye him, saying, “Must be hard to see much out of that eye.”

Zuko grinds his teeth together to keep from spitting something sour back. His cover is too important. “Yes…well thank you for…understanding,” he mutters before he turns away. He walks a little faster than he cares to admit, throwing the occasional glance over his shoulder. The large man is nowhere to be seen.

He walks about a mile through the woods to the clearing they had been able to pick out from the sky. Toph and Aang are practicing forms, with Toph laughing as she takes what looks like solid nose dives into the ground, the rocks effortlessly peeling out of her way. Aang is kneeling, sort of half-heartedly, tapping his head gently towards the ground where it stays solid beneath him. Zuko hears a muffled “HEADBUTT, NOW!” and turns away a moment before he hears a smack, followed by Aang’s “ _Owwww_ …”

Katara and Sokka are setting up camp for dinner, though Katara shoots a worried look in their direction. Sokka, ignoring the whole thing, eagerly turns to Zuko. “Did you bring meat?” Zuko can practically see the other boy’s mouth watering.

“Um, eggs,” he offers the basket.

Sokka snatches it away, inspects the offering, and gives a thorough nod. “This is acceptable,” he says in mock seriousness. “Growing boys need their protein!”

“And girls!” Katara smacks him with a wooden spoon, and then gives Zuko a smile of thanks as he hands the noodles to her.

“Listen,” Sokka lowers his voice and glances to where Toph has just burst from the ground next to Aang, cackling madly. “I only said that because I don’t think Toph _needs_ anymore protein or she just might just go on a rock throwing spree and crush us all!”

“I HEARD THAT!”

“Zuko? Is something wrong?” Katara asks. He startles, not having realized he was staring at the ground. He is still slightly unnerved from the interaction earlier. He is trying to be as helpful as he can to the group, because he knows there’s still an underlying current of wariness they all carry. If he has to give up one of the few things he’s contributing because he’s a liability…

He bites the inside of his lip, before he glances up at Katara. She and Sokka are the most logical ones in the group anyway, it’s better to be honest with them no matter how it might make him look. “I’m…not sure I should go into some of these towns. I look…” he gestured vaguely towards his face. “…conspicuous,” he finished lamely.

“Did something happen?” Katara sounds like she genuinely cares, but the edges of worry tinge her voice. Zuko knows he’s letting her down, and can’t help but glance away. He tries to be honest because Toph is a supernatural creature that can tell a lie even though she’s smashing her head into rocks, but he also wants them to trust him. To _keep_ trusting him. And he doesn’t want to mess it up.

“A man just said…something sort of weird about it, is all.”

Sokka snorts. “Sounds just like an ignorant brick brain to me. Didn’t you walk around the Earth Kingdom for months without getting recognized?” He’s not looking at Zuko, mostly focused on his task on tending to boiling the eggs in a smaller pot. Katara still has a slightly worried look on her face, though.

Zuko looks down and exhales. “Yeah…I’m just being paranoid. There are plenty of people with burn…scars…” he starts to trail off, aware of how awkward sometimes it still is that he had been part of the very force that gave a lot of people those scars. Sokka and Katara pretend not to notice the awkwardness, but Sokka is conspicuously looking around at literally anything that’s _not_ Zuko, and Katara is dumping noodles into the pot even though the water isn’t hot enough yet.

“Um,” Zuko say slowly, keenly aware of how tense things can still be between them all. “Do you want me to…help that along?” he gestures towards the fire under the pot.

Katara blinked. “Oh! Uh, no! I think it’s…it’s fine, it’s almost there!” She gave him an apologetic smile.

Zuko felt something inside of him deflate slightly, but doesn’t respond.

“Hey, when’s food? I’m starving!” Toph shouts, bounding over. Aang stumbles along behind her and then topples onto his front, Momo landing on the head of the exhausted airbender. The awkwardness breaks instantly, but Zuko stays quiet for most of the meal. Afterwards, everyone retires early in a tight circle around the campfire and Appa. Zuko, as usual, sets his bedroll slightly further away from the rest of the group. When he first started doing it was because the group’s trust of him was still strained. After a while, it just became habit. Katara had tried to invite Zuko in, but as the day of Souzin’s Comet approaches, his dreams keep getting more restless and he doesn’t want to disturb any of them.

It doesn’t take long for Zuko to fall into a light sleep, and even less for memories to begin flitting to the forefront of his consciousness. He turns restlessly, before shooting awake with a gasp. Hands shaking and breath quick, he looks over at the glow of the still-burning coals. He hadn’t been asleep that long. He runs his hands through his hair, and gets to his feet. He hears a quiet rumbling as a small door opens in the side of Toph’s rock tent.

“Sparky?” her tired voice says. She peaks her head out and rubs at one of her eyes.

“Go back to sleep. I’m just going for a walk,” he says quietly.

After a moment, she must decide she believes him. “’Night,” she mumbles, and the rock shoots up over the opening.

He wanders for a while, trying not to think about anything in particular. It’s…difficult. He tries to focus on breathing instead. Inhale for three steps. Exhale for three steps. Repeat.

He hears his uncle’s voice in his head.

_Control starts from a clear mind._

Zuko opens his eyes and sighs. His mind is clearer now than it ever has. “It’s still not enough, Uncle.” He says quietly. “I’m not sure it ever will be.” He stares at the moon through the trees.

A twig snaps and he whirls around. He reaches for the twin dao on his back, grasping only empty air – Zuko curses, remembering them resting against the side of his tent. “Who’s there?” he snaps instead. He brings his hands up into a defensive stance.

For a moment, there is only stillness. Then he hears a telltale whistling slice through the air, and he dives forward into a roll just as a net sails over him. He gets to his feet in a crouch, just as he sees the huge man from earlier barreling out of the woods towards him. “You won’t get away, firebender!”

Zuko can’t help growling as he brings one knee up, snapping his foot above his head and hitting the other man’s wrist. He grunts and lunges forward, but Zuko is already ducking down and rolling forward again. He hears another movement from his side, and the woman who must have thrown the net earlier is tearing towards him, wielding two kali sticks. Zuko tries to roll out of the way again, but she hooks one of his feet, tripping him. He grunts, scrambling out of the way as she slams one of her sticks down.

“I’m not a firebender!” he shouts. He brings his knees to his chest and kicks up and out, using his momentum to leap to his feet.

“Strangers don’t come to our village, and as soon as whispers begin of fire nation infiltrators, you show up? I don’t think so!” The man punctuates his words with slow, but powerful lunges.

Zuko tries to keep out of his reach. But it’s hard to create distance when that woman is there with her sticks, pushing him forward every time he starts to get enough room to breathe. If he had his twin dao, he would have been able to disarm her. Or if he firebends…

He tries to block a punch from the man (Liu, he suspects,) but he’s incredibly strong, and Zuko stumbles back a step. He cries out as a stick slams across his back, followed by an uppercut from the front, knocking him backwards.

He sees the sticks as if in slow motion, coming down to slam into him.

He reacts.

He punches his fists upward, shooting a jet of flame that makes both of his attackers back off.

The woman looks somewhat surprised, but Liu looks vindicated.

Well, porcupine-cat’s out of the bag now.

He wheels his legs in a circle around him, creating a fire barrier as he flips up back to his feet. The woman vaults over the barrier and slams her sticks down again, forcing Zuko to shift his stance and cut his move short. She pivots and kicks out, and Zuko takes a step back. He hears the whistling again, and whirls to see Liu has gotten hold of the discarded net and tosses it at him. Zuko throws his fists forward, pumping fire at the net. He realizes his mistake a split second later as the fire passes harmlessly through, metal-wire wrapping around him and throwing him to the ground.

Above him, the woman twirls her stick and smashes it across Zuko’s temple.

\--

His head aches. Zuko groans, trying to pry his eyes open. At first, he’s not sure if he succeeds. It’s dark, but then he realizes he’s in some kind of dark space. There’s the barest glint of light coming in from above him. He tries to suck and a breath, but the air is thin, and there’s something over his face. Something metal, and cold. His breath hitches and he tries to reach up to tear whatever this iron mask is off his face, but his arms are bound painfully behind his back. The mask over the lower half of his face has airholes, but they’re painfully small, and Zuko is trying to suck in any breath he can. He rocks side to side and hits metal walls.

He’s in a box. He’s in a metal box and it’s too small, and he can feel himself start to suffocate. He can’t breathe, he can’t breathe and-

In a panicked breath he exhales, the burning flame hitting the metal mask and bouncing back to singe his lips and nose. He lets out a muffled moan of pain.

There’s a jolt, and he feels movement underneath him.

He tries to breathe. Just breathe. Zuko has always been self-sufficient.

_They’ll come,_ he thinks. Hesitates. _Will they?_

Zuko isn’t sure.

_Can they find me?_ _Do they_ want-

He interrupts himself.

_Breathe._

It’s difficult. He doesn’t have enough air, and his head was already pounding, but now its sharper. Even though its dark in the box, his vision starts to go fuzzy. He collapses again against the side.

\--

“He usually wakes me up at dawn, because ‘Firebenders rise with the sun’, and everything.”

They’re all standing there, perplexed. Zuko’s stuff is still here, including his swords.

“He said he went for a walk. But that was right after we went to sleep. He walked out of my range…I figured he just wanted time to brood,” Toph says, sounding uncharacteristically worried.

“Well, he does need a lot of brooding time,” Sokka says.

“This isn’t funny,” Aang snaps. Sokka sheepishly crosses his arms.

“Maybe he…got lost?” Katara asks, the question sounding pitiful even in her own ears. “Well, he did mention some guy in town was acting weird about…his scar. Do you think someone recognized him? It just seems so…well he just went unrecognized in the Earth Kingdom for so long.” She starts to organize Zuko’s things, but as soon as she touches them, she pulls her hands back and sighs in frustration.

Aang sees her motions, and looks at the others pleadingly. “Guys, I know we haven’t been friends with Zuko that long, and his behavior isn’t always logical, but something is wrong here. Sokka, Toph, go into town and start asking if anyone’s seen him. Katara and I will take Appa and search from the air.”

Sokka nods seriously. “Right - let’s go, Toph.” They set off at a jog towards town.

Aang flies up to the top of Appa’s head as Katara climbs up his tail. “Why would someone be suspicious of his scar? Even if they didn’t recognize him?” Katara asks.

Aang turns to face her as Appa lifts into the air. “I’m not sure if the custom’s changed but…firebenders sometimes challenge each other to these duals…the first one who gets burned, loses. Maybe the guy in town suspected him of being an Agni Kai loser.” He shrugs.

Katara’s eyes widen. “But that scar is so old! Someone would do that to a teenager?”

“It’s…it’s possible,” Aang says quietly. Neither of them wants to think much about the implication of _that_.

“It could also have been an accident,” Aang supplies. “A lot of young benders get burned when they’re learning.” But he doesn’t sound convinced. Zuko was one of the best firebenders they’d ever seen.

“Let’s just find Zuko,” Katara says sadly.

They soar over the tree tops until they see a clearing almost two miles from their campsite with a small foot path leading off of it. Katara calls to Aang, who brings Appa down to the clearing, trying to get him to land off to the side. Katara studies the clearing from the saddle until - “Look Aang! I think that grass is burned!”

He hops off the back of Appa and goes over to look. “You’re right!” He says, leaning down to touch the tips of the dry, yellowish grass. “Do you think he was practicing his bending though?”

Katara shakes her head. “Look over there, there’s some drag marks! I think this was a fight.”

“So where is he? Zuko could have taken them.” Frustration seethes off Aang in waves, the spark of optimism half-hearted at best.

“If he didn’t have his swords and he was outnumbered and he was trying to hide his bending…he would have only bended if he had no other choice.” Katara looks down the path.

“C’mon,” Aang says, getting back on Appa. “We have to follow this.”

Appa flies into the air, staying low so they can try and follow the footpath through the trees. They lose sight of it a few times, but after another few miles, the forest ends and the footpath leads onto a larger road.

“Which way?” Aang throws his hands up in frustration, looking at the road leading away from them in two directions.

“North heads back to town. Do you think he would have taken Zuko there?” Katara asks.

“If they did, Toph and Sokka will find him. I think it’s more likely…” Aang looks south, towards miles of open road ahead that they know will lead them to a major city after a few days walking. One with real bounty hunters. “We have to hurry,” he concedes instead, climbing back onto Appa.

They end travel almost ten miles over the empty road before Katara sighs. “Drop me off,” Katara tells Aang. “I’ll walk back, see if we missed anything. You keep trying the road.”

“I don’t think we should split up,” Aang says worriedly. “If something happens to you too...” he trails off.

Katara gives him a reassuring smile.“I’ll be fine. We have to hurry.” Aang nods, and brings Appa to the ground where Katara hops off.

Appa rises, turning south, as Aang shouts, “Be careful!”

Katara waves as Appa drifts out of site, off towards the side of the road. Afterall, Aang is a more dangerous bounty than even Zuko. But at least people in the Earth Kingdom probably like the Avatar.

Mostly.

She starts to retrace their steps, her waterskins bouncing reassuringly against her hips. She loosens up the corks, just in case. She’s dressed in Earth Kingdom clothing, but that doesn’t mean someone might try and take advantage of a young woman by herself on the road. This stretch of road is empty though, just sad weeds that wouldn’t hide anyone.

She walks a few miles and comes to some patchy woods. Katara inspects the shoulders of the road, and finds a spot where the grass is folded down. Two even tracks lead off the shoulder and point towards the woods, where she immediately spots some broken branches and undergrowth. Something heavy rolled through here.

She goes back out onto the road, and taking a quick look around to make sure no one is watching, she pops the cork on one of her water skins before tracing a huge spiral vaguely resembling the symbol of the Air Nation into the mud. Satisfied, she goes off into the woods, trying to move quietly.

\--

It doesn’t take her too long before she eventually comes across a small campsite. An ostridge-horse is tied up nearby, and there’s a small cart with a metal box peeking out over the top.

Katara’s breath hitches as a woman comes out of the woods, and bangs a long, heavy stick weapon against the box. The noise makes the ostridge-horse startle, but there’s no noise from inside the box. She can’t see any markings on it. Or…holes. Maybe if there’s something in there there’s holes at the top?

A man’s nearby voice makes Katara duck down into the underbrush. “We’ll head out again at dusk. Less travelers, plus firebenders are weaker without the sun.”

The woman _hmms_ noncommittally, but Katara grinds her teeth together together and clenches her hands. She knows now what- _who_ -is in that box.

“I can’t believe we caught a firebender! I can turn him in, finally get a big payout, and the Earth Kingdom will have one less ashmaker running around.”

Katara recognizes the slur for what it is. She gently twists free the corks on her water skins, ready to strike.

The woman speaks up. “What do you think they’re going to do with him?”

The man shrugs. “Dunno, don’t care. I’m just pleased finally people in the village won’t call me a conspiracy theorist anymore.”

“I think we should take him to Yu Dao.”

The man laughs. “Yu Dao, the Fire Nation colony? Are you crazy? There’s more ashbringers there than the one we already got. No thanks.”

“He’s worth more than you think. They’d pay handsomely to take him off your hands.” She stands up, twirling her sticks. The man eyes her warily.

“Pfft, what do you know? They’re all the same. Common criminals and killers.” He huffs.

She sighs in return. “Liu, you’re so stupid.”

He looks up at her, confused. “Huh?”

“There ARE Fire Nation spies here.”

Before Katara can react, the woman lunges forward, one stick crushing the man’s nose up into his skull and the second one breaking his neck from behind. A clear killing blow. Katara hears it. Katara _feels_ it. She stifles a gasp, crouching down further and having to look away for a moment. She tries to get her terrified breathing under control, forcing down the bile coming up her throat. Across the clearing, there’s the unmistakable sound of a body being dragged into the woods. The ostridge-horse whinnies nervously, sensing the nearby carnage but too well trained to bolt.

What if she was too late? She shoves her arm into her mouth to quiet her gasps and jams her eyes shut. No, she’s not too late. The man had talked about Zuko as if he were alive. She just had to beat this one woman, this one _killer_ woman…and she could save him. Katara takes her arm out of her mouth, steadies herself, and gets to her feet.

The woman’s back is to her, and she doesn’t see the waterbender stand, swing her arms behind her and then the rush of water as it surges forward to wrap around her ankles.

She hears it though.

She drops the body’s legs and rolls out of the way. She takes in the sight of Katara, and looks genuinely surprised.

“A waterbender?”

Katara is _not_ in the mood to have a conversation. She sweeps her right arm in front of her, forming a band of water, and with her other hand makes a quick series of motions and ice projectiles dart forth. The woman dodges behind a tree, the ice hitting the trunk with a _whack_. The woman is quick and darts forward at Katara, who quickly rotates her wrists. The water band reforms into a wall of ice and blocks the woman’s first swing. Katara drops her hands and the ice wall drops, before quickly whipping her wrists forward and snapping a water whip against the woman’s wrist with a large crack.

To her credit, the woman doesn’t drop her sticks, but she does take a step back.

“Why is a waterbender interested in the banished traitor?” She says it calmly, as if she’s genuinely curious.

“He’s my friend,” Katara can’t help herself from saying. She breathes in deeply, straightening her back and crossing her arms in front of her. The water rushes to her chest and then she brings her arms outward and away from her body, water circling like two extensions of her arms.

“Friends with a _snow savage?_ ” the woman spits. Now she does sound like the cruel person Katara expects. “He is so corrupted. The Fire Lord will punish him in turn. Though perhaps the Fire Lord would be happier with me if I just killed him.”

Katara almost growls. “You’ll have to go through _me_ first!”

“With pleasure,” the woman says matter-of-factly, then runs forward again. She rolls underneath Katara’s first water whip and nimbly hops over the second one that Katara sweeps low. Katara brings her elbows back, pulling the water back with her, and takes a quick step to her right, whirling around. She uses the momentum to swing her water arms with her, and one catches the other woman unaware in the back. As she stumbles, Katara continues her rotation and uses one water arm to swing herself around a tree. She builds momentum, letting go at just the right moment to project herself like a missile towards the other woman. She straightens her wrist, and the ends of her arms form into solid ice as she slams down. The woman uses one stick to knock the first icicle away, more by reflex than any true preparation against the attack, and. Katara’s second icicle arm catches her in the thigh.

Katara turns the ice back into water, raises her arms up, and slams the woman’s back so she hits the ground face first. She lets the water flow off her arms and snaps her arms out in a quick motion that freezes the woman against the ground.

Katara takes a quick moment to make sure the groaning woman is secure and rushes over to the box in the cart. “Zuko?” she calls.

There’s no answer. There’s no airholes on this side of the box either, just a thick padlock. Katara summons over one of the ice daggers lodged in a tree and turns it into water again. She bends it into the lock, freezing it, and the lock explodes in shards of shrapnel. Katara turns away, flinching as one small sliver cut her shoulder. She doesn’t care she didn’t do it delicately, she’s in a hurry. She pulls the door open.

Zuko is curled up inside, head down. His arms are pulled behind him.

He doesn’t move.

She leans forward and pulls him out. But he’s heavy and gangly, and even though she tries to maneuver him gently, they both fall off the back of the cart and land in a heap on the ground.

Zuko still hasn’t moved. “I’ll heal you later,” she mumbles, and does the exploding lock trick again on the locks binding his arms. She grimaces as she sees a few lines of red appear on his arms, but flips him over and freezes.

Zuko’s eyes are closed, and there’s dried blood leaking from his temple down his face. But more disconcerting is…

“You _muzzled_ him?” Katara screams at the woman in the clearing.

The woman doesn’t reply, just gives Katara a hard stare.

Katara shouts her frustration as her fingers run over the back of the iron bands. There’s a lock here too, but she doesn’t want to make it explode, not around Zuko’s face. She has to get Toph, who’d be able to pull it off. But more disconcerting is how small the airholes are. It’s iron and heavy, and it’s pushed too tightly against his face.

Suddenly, Zuko just looks so _young_ in her arms, and Katara feels tears come to her eyes.

She hears a faint call of her name, and her heart speeds up. “I’m here!” she calls to Aang, loudly. A minute later, Aang bursts through the underbrush, quickly taking in the scene before him.

“Katara, are you alright?”

“Yes, but Zuko needs help. He needs air, we have to get to Toph,” she doesn’t have time to elaborate as she stands, pulling Zuko up with her.

“What-”

Aang’s voice sounds confused, but then he sees.

Aang whirls around, and even though he’s a pacifist, even though the woman is already restrained, Aang’s fury radiates off him in waves. He takes a quick breath to keep himself grounded. “Why would you do that?” he demands, instead of whatever his first reaction was going to be.

“Some firebenders breathe fire. It was only a precaution.”

“The _best_ firebenders can breathe fire,” Aang corrects.

She shrugs. “Even the lowest of the low get lucky.”

“Zuko is trying to _help_ your people, why would-”

She turns her head and spits in Zuko’s general direction. “Traitorous scum. The Fire Lord will be pleased when he’s dead.”

Aang takes a step forward, but Katara’s voice interrupts. “Aang, we need to get him back to Appa, and find Toph. Help me!” Now that Katara’s own rage has passed like the calm after a storm, she’s back to prioritizing what needs to happen next.

Aang huffs and helps Katara get Zuko onto the ostridge-horse, which they then start to lead out of the woods. He briefly turns back to look at the woman. “When we defeat Ozai, I hope we can help you.” He doesn’t say anything else, and she doesn’t reply.

\--

His head pulses with a sharp and pounding pain. It feels like something has a vice grip on his head. He moans quietly but doesn’t open his eyes.

“Just hang on, Zuko, Toph’s almost here.”

He’s not sure how much time passes.

He hears voices and something clicks behind his head. The heavy iron presence over his nose and mouth disappears. For a moment, the pain lessons.

“His heartbeat is so slow,” he hears someone say. “I think he’s-”

The oxygen fills his lungs and he starts violently coughing. He tries to curl in on himself but he can’t get his body to move. He can feel his eyes watering, and someone lifts him up. He gasps, but it helps bring more oxygen into his lungs. He forces his eyes open, and sees four sets of eyes staring back at him.

It’s suddenly…it’s so much, but he can’t bring his arms up or speak. His head is pounding and he’s still coughing. He can’t hold in enough air.

“His heart is racing,” Toph says. He closes his eyes and tries to turn his head away.

“Listen, I need everyone to back up, like…200 feet,” he hears Katara’s voice say. Her arms are the ones holding him up.

“Katara, are you sure-”

“Right now, Aang! All of you!” She shouts. Zuko winces but everyone else backs away. She turns back to Zuko. “Zuko, please breathe with me, alright? You haven’t had enough air in your lungs.” She begins counting, and along with her voice, Zuko hears his Uncle’s in his head. He closes his eye. And breathes.

After a few minutes, he hears Katara’s voice, speaking softly. “Better?”

He nods minutely. It’s hard to move his head.

“I’m going to put some water around your mouth, okay? There are…there are some burns,” Katara’s voice wavers. “I won’t cover your nose, okay? Just your mouth. You’ll still be able to breathe.” He gives her another small nod, and then a moment later feels the cooling, healing energy over his face. Besides the burns, he also feels raw skin from where the mask bit into him. Katara’s able to heal those in a matter of moments.

As he lays there, just breathing, the feeling begins to come back into his limbs. The water disappears from his face, and he opens his eyes again. Katara’s looking down at him and smiling, but doesn’t meet her eyes.

“Zuko, I’m sorry everyone saw…well, I’m sorry.” She moves her water down to his arms, and begins to heal the small cuts there.

He still doesn’t have a lot of breath. “Sorry I was…liability,” he says softly.

“No, no, Zuko it’s…we should have been more careful. Just rest, okay?” Zuko’s not sure he could do much else – his eyes feel heavier than the boulders Toph likes to fling around. They pack up and fly Appa away, trying to put as much distance as they could between the last town and the next one. Katara doesn’t want to stay in the air for long, insisting Zuko needs to rest at a regular altitude. Aang takes one look at his blue-tinged lips and agrees. They set up camp, with Katara closely monitoring Zuko who only begins to stir as they were finishing up.

“It’s alright, you’re safe,” Katara says. The others, hearing her voice, creep a little closer but stay far enough away to not crowd. “Can you move?”

In answer, Zuko grunts and lifts one arm up slowly, wincing as he does so.

“You’ll be okay, you just need more rest,” Katara takes his arm and gently lays it back down at his side.

“What…happened?” Zuko whispers.

Katara glances away before turning her gaze back on Zuko. She scowls. “That woman. She was Fire Nation and was trying to take you back. She killed the man, I…I saw her. She was ready to kill you too.”

Zuko’s right eye widens and he struggles to sit up. Katara helps him, fingers clenching tight around his forearm. “Thank you.” He leans forward slightly in a weak bow. “Thank you for healing me. And…and looking.”

“You don’t need to thank us, Zuko. We’re your friends. You would have done the same for us.”

“Of course!” He almost shouts it, then coughs, leaning forward. Katara rubs his back.

“Just…try to breathe slowly. They put you in a box without a lot of air, and then…Zuko, is it common to…”

“To _muzzle_ firebenders?” Aang growls from some distance away.

Zuko hesitates. “Some firebenders have the Breath of Fire, so it’s necessary-”

“They put you in a box!” Aang interrupts throwing his hands up. “You can’t breathe fire hot enough to melt metal. There was no reason to do that!”

Zuko looks away. “No. It’s…a practice meant to shame.”

“That’s not the only practice meant to shame, is it?”

Zuko looks up, and meets Aang’s eyes. In a rare reversal, Aang is seething. Zuko is calm. Zuko lowers his hands to his lap. “No.”

“Aang, what are you talking about?” Sokka says quietly. Katara has a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

“Is your scar from an Agni Kai?”

There’s dead silence in the campsite as everyone looks to Zuko. He is still calmly holding Aang’s gaze. “Yes.”

“Aang, this isn’t our business, if Zuko doesn’t want to tell us, he doesn’t have to!” Katara shouts. She is genuinely upset with Aang, that he would bring something like this up when Zuko just needs time to recover and heal.

Aang seems to realize it to0, because he blinks, and his anger seems to vanish with the wind.

“Zuko, I’m sorry, I didn’t…”

Zuko’s still looking at him, before he closes his eyes and inhales deeply. “It’s alright. You should know. Just so you understand how dangerous the Fire Nation – my _father -_ is.”

Zuko inhales.

And he tells them.


End file.
